Chapter 4

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Chapter 4 : Level Up and Skill Appearance

Outside of the base camp was a vast plain that seemed to have continuously expanded without stopping.

In the direction to the west, I could see a huge forest, while a mountain could be seen north from here. Other than that, there were various rocks scattered among the reddish-brown land.

“Now then, I wooonder where the monsteeers aree~♪”

Above that mentioned land was me, who was now strolling over towards the mountain, restlessly looking around the vicinity.

I was a beginner to the game, but Ranka was a splendid gamer and I had the opportunity to hear about all her tips and tricks. Needless to say, I at least knew that if you defeated monsters, you’d gain levels and become stronger.

My real objective was the forest’s field boss which was Shizuku’s minimum standard for me. Currently, I don’t think I’d be able to head there and just win, so I’ll level up over here first.

Having said that, hunting any monster would’ve been fine. While thinking and walking, a monster with a small stature came in front of my field of vision.

It’s skin was sand colored and it was clad in tattered rags and a worn-out sword (?). It was a monster known as a sand goblin.

“Alright, first up was this one! Let’s have a bout!”

I raised my voice ecstatically and rushed over while brandishing my staff.

If it’s goblin, then I knew about them too. They’re the staple small fry monsters in the fantasy genre. Starting off with a simple goblin was ideal wasn’t it? To level up, it was just perfect.

While I was in the middle of my thoughts, the goblin gave me a quick glance…… Then, as if it had seen nothing there, it turned in the opposite direction and started walking again.

“Wait, why~!? Come fight with me!”

Didn’t it just look over at me!? Why did I get ignored!?

At any rate, I’ll have to pursue it!

With that intent, I kept running after it. However, whether it was because of my small body or the fact that I didn’t put any stat points into this sort of thing, I wasn’t able to exactly catch up.

If the goblin walked briskly with a tip-tap, I would follow along in small strides with a pitter-patter.

If the goblin made a sudden turn, I would match it and also make a turn.

Tip-tap tip-tap. Pitter-patter pitter-patter.

Tip-tap tip-tap tip-tap. Pitter-patter pitter-patter pitter-patter.

Tip-tap tip-tap tip-tap tip-tap. Pitter-patter pitter-patter pitter-patter pitter-patter.

“Grrr. Hey goblin over there, wait up~!”

Even when I shouted, the goblin took no notice of me. Did it not hear me?

It was as though the goblin was pacing around just to tease me. A bit of frustration accumulated.

“Then, how about this!? «Mana Shoot»!!”

I had enough of this game of tag. There was some distance between us, but I fired off my magic.

My first shot went too far and missed. In that case, I’ll adjust the aim. One more shot!

“Gugya!?”

The orb of light struck against the back of the goblin’s head and its HP bar decreases slightly.

Because of that, it finally recognizes my existence. The goblin looks over behind his shoulder with a furious expression.

Apparently, it didn’t seem like it was trying to make fun of me at all. Rather, wasn’t this goblin a bit too slow on the uptake?

“Gyaa, gyaa!”

Anyways, not only did it notice my attack, but it also came charging at me, an action which I welcomed.

I wasn’t very persuasive saying this since I couldn’t catch up at all earlier, but this goblin’s attack was even slower than the Sailor-san’s. Dodging and counter-attacking would be an easy feat.

“Hoi!!”

I avoided the downward swing from the worn-out sword by shifting one step to the side and slugged the goblin in the face with my staff as a return gift.

The goblin recoiled from the impact and collapsed facing upwards. Yeah, as I expected, or rather, how should I put this. My physical attacks were stronger than my magic. I wonder why?

Well, I guess it’s fine for now. The goblin was riddled with openings currently, so this was my chance to defeat it!

“Ei, Take this!!”

“Gugyaa!?”

The exposed goblin that fell over defenselessly was repeatedly smacked around violently with my staff.

It appears that the damage inflicted differed depending on which part you hit and so, the head seemed to be the goblin’s weak spot.

Regardless of its movements, the goblin’s resilience was much higher than the sailor’s and it was able to take a barrage of 3 hits. Though in the end, the pitiful monster never got up again and was reduced to experience for me.

“Phew, My first victory!!”

I hoisted my staff up and did a victory pose.

Fufufu. Shizuka said that I wouldn’t be able to catch up to her, but it looks like I can do it if I try!

“Now then, next one next one!”

Once I got the hang of it, all I had to do was this.

I would systematically use my magic skill on the goblins to get their attention. Then when they approached me, I whipped out my staff and beat them down.

“There!! I’ve already seen that attack before!!”

“Gugyaa!?”

“Gyaa, gyaa!!”

I avoided the heavy attack then nailed the goblin in the abdomen. While it was faltering from the hit, I took aim and swung the staff up against its chin as if I was performing an uppercut. However, the goblin who just got hit in its weak point had vanished.

Instead, the goblin took advantage of my attack’s recovery time and launched its own horizontal attack, which left little to no openings.

I immediately hopped back to dodge, but I wasn’t able to evade it fully and the side of my chest got slightly cut.

“Whoops! That sure hurts, jeez.”

I had only received a graze, but when I peeked over at my HP bar to check, that one attack had chipped off a whole 40%. In other words, if I got hit 3 times, it’ll be over.

During that time, two more goblins approached and I was now suddenly facing off against 3 of them.

Did I perhaps make a mistake from getting too carried away? While I was reflecting a bit, I put a little distance between me and them…… No wait, I shook my head and stopped myself.

“If I wasn’t able to get through something as simple as this, I won’t reach Shizuku.”

Fufu, I chuckled and readjusted my grip on the staff.

Since it was a game, if you died, you wouldn’t actually die, but there was a penalty. If I remember correctly, a portion of your experience would be taken away…… Right?

I dreamt of leveling up and having a happy game life with Shizuku who was ahead. So for me, losing experience points now would hurt. It would really hurt.

Though, Shizuku was surprisingly stubborn. If I ran away from just this degree of trouble, even if I got stronger, she’d probably wouldn’t approve of such an uncool onee-chan.

I don’t want that. I absolutely wouldn’t want that.

That’s why, I won’t run.

I’ll stand my ground and beat them all in the fastest, shortest way!

“Here I gooo!!”

I let out a war cry, surging towards the 3 goblins who also rose their worn-out swords without hesitation.

It’ll be fine. The goblins weren’t all that fast and if you paid really close attention, their attack patterns were mostly fixed.

It wasn’t a pure living thing, but rather an AI made from programming the game and in a sense, that much was obvious. Still, if that’s the case, then if you engraved all of their actions into your memory, you could determine exactly what kind of attack would appear the moment they start to move.

“Hmph……!!”

I avoided the diagonal slash coming from the front by stepping to the right, taking distance from the left goblin and moving out of the range of its horizontal slice.

Taking the opportunity, the goblin on the right exerts all of its strength and prepares to bring down a deadly cleave. I noticed, then aimed at its pivot leg which momentarily carried its body weight and performed a leg sweep.

“Gyaa!?”

Right on the mark, the goblin that was attempting to attack me had fallen flat in a defenseless display.

I stomped on the said goblin’s stomach with all my strength causing it to recoil in pain and attacked the remaining two. The goblin’s bodies stiffen from the aftermath of their attacks and I drove my staff into them using the utmost of my power.

“Teyaaaa!!”

I targeted their heads and there were 2 reverbing sounds of impact.

I hit one in its weak spot, dealing critical damage and left the second goblin collapsed as is. My next target was the first goblin that had somehow gotten back up.

Taking advantage of how it’s become a temporary 1 on 1, before it could take action, I whacked it in the head with my staff, executed a spinning kick and delivered a downward swing as the killing blow.

I also thought this when I stepped on the goblin’s stomach, but somehow, the damage was only slightly less than when I struck with my staff. It seems like damage would be dealt even if I simply kicked with my leg.

By the way, this also inflicted a lot more damage than magic. Like I asked before, why?

“Only 2 left!!”

At any rate, it was easy once their numbers decreased. When one stood back up, I closed the distance all at once and concentrated the attack on it alone.

I made it flinch by slugging it in the face with my staff, comboed it with a lunging thrust, and finally a downwards swing to finish it all off.

“Gugyaa!!”

During that time, the last remaining goblin initiates an attack towards me.

Yep, from the selection within the attack patterns that I’ve seen up to now, it had chosen the move with the least openings, a sideways slice with a broad range of attack. Despite being an enemy, it was a good decision.

However, as long as you were able to predict your opponent’s actions to some extent, you’d be able to take measures towards it!!

“Hmph……!!”

I kicked off of the ground and cleared the side attack with a high jump.

As expected, this kind of maneuver was unanticipated and I could see that the goblin wore a shocked expression on its face even though it was supposed to only be AI. Was it just my imagination?

Anyways, there was now just a single defenseless goblin in front of me still recovering from its attack. I’ve got you now!!

“Yaaaa!!”

I rolled once in mid air before sinking my staff into the goblin’s temple.

I transferred all of the momentum from the fall into the blow, though I didn’t know if it really had any effect. That one hit dealt critical damage to the goblin and its remaining HP was all blown away causing its body to shatter into polygons.

“Nnn~~! Victory!!”

I raised my staff up and struck a victory pose.

Well, in the end they were just goblins. Handling 3 at a time probably wasn’t much of a big deal.

“Ah, but my level went up twice from that battle.”

I’ve only defeated 4 of them, yet it was going quite well.

It also seems like I’ve slightly obtained more status points, so this time as well…… ATK was it? I’ll increase it again.

With this, I wonder if my magic’s become a bit more effective?

“Well then, let’s continue this rhythm and keep hunting!”

I was in a good mood from being able to raise my level and so, I worked hard on hunting down goblins excessively.

Somehow, my magic power didn’t strengthen at all. Since there was no helping it, I continued to just clobber the goblins instead…… Surprisingly, wasn’t this pretty fun in its own right? While I was thinking that, I proceeded onward and this time, I found a monster that was different from a goblin.

“Uwaa…… It’s huge.”

It was a gigantic humanoid monster who’s entire body was composed of rugged stones, a Rock Golem.

If I got hit by such an enormous arm, I’d be crushed flat in one blow.

Only, it’s massive size meant that its movements were the slowest I’ve seen thus far. It wasn’t like earlier where I couldn’t catch up to the goblin, so let’s bring it down in one go from behind.

“Teyaaah!!”

I displayed my spirit, slamming my staff into the back of its knee.

GOZUNN!! A dense sound echoed and the golem’s body swayed a little, however……

The damage wasn’t notable at all and the golem immediately launched a counter-attack, sending a fist flying towards me.

“Waah, kyaa!?”

Still, I didn’t expect it to be completely ineffective. I made great haste, trying to escape from the range of its attack, but…… Even though I avoided the direct hit, I was blown away by the shockwaves that were transmitted through the ground.

Moreover, this damage couldn’t be compared to the goblins. The HP that I’ve managed to naturally recover was reduced by 80% from just that one indirect hit. It was an attack power that was as dangerous as its appearance suggested.

However, what was even more troublesome was that defense. I didn’t think it’d be this resistant to my attacks.

Shizuku said that if there was a difference in levels, damage wouldn’t be able to go through in the first place. Could this be what she was talking about?

“Uu~ How strict…… But, it’s too early to give up!!”

I reprimanded my body, turning it back around and looked up at the golem.

When I was up against the goblins, there was a difference in damage depending on which part was hit, so if I just attacked the golem in its weak point, the current me might be able to deal some damage to it too.

“A spot that looks like a weak point…… The head? Or maybe……”

Staring, I laid my gaze upon the golem’s chest. Embedded within the layer of rocks was a jewel-like section that glimmered red.

Huh, wasn’t that clearly its weak point? No matter how you look at it, it had to be an important part…… Doesn’t it seem like a heart?

“For the time being, let’s just try attacking that.”

Once that was decided, all that’s left was to carry out the action.

I did worry a little about being able to reach its height by just jumping normally, but.

Even so, there was another way to do it.

“Heeeey, over hereee~!”

I waved my staff around, provoking the golem.

Then, sure enough, the golem recognized me as its opponent and slammed down its fist for the second time.

“Just a bit more, a bit more…… Now!!”

I confirm that the fist is approaching and matched the timing with a jump.

I look down to see that the fallen fist has razed the ground, causing it to unsteadily shake. The golem stops for a moment after its attack and that’s when I landed right on its arm.

“Fufufu, thanks for creating the perfect foothold, Golem-san!!”

I said this to taunt the golem and before its arm started to move again, I jumped once more. Of course, the part I was aiming for was golem’s red heart (?).

“Toryaaaaah!!”

With a courageous battle cry, I bashed the gem with all my might.

Okay! This time for sure. After verifying that the golem’s HP had indeed decreased, I resolved myself with a triumphant pose in my inner thoughts. While doing so, I promptly kicked off from the golem’s body to break away from the scene.

Immediately after, the golem punches itself with its own stone fist and scores a direct hit on its chest, the place which I was desperately hanging onto recently.

DOGONN!! The blow causes the blare of an intense sound. Perhaps it was because it was its own attack, but there had been no damage dealt. However, it seemed like its balance had crumbled from the knockback and its large build shook violently, tremoring before collapsing face-up.

Naturally, its weak point, the red jewel gets exposed.

“I have you now!!”

I hopped on top of the golem’s body and continued clobbering it in its weak spot.

Every time I swung my staff down, a heavy sound would reverberate and its HP would plummet.

Then……

“…… Alright! it’s your defeat!!”

After striking it around 4 times, I finally succeeded in defeating the golem.

While doing my victory pose which has become an established practice at this point, my mind was completely filled with a sense of accomplishment.

Phew, that was a troublesome monster. You had to search for its weak point, find an opportunity, then focus your attack there in order to properly defeat it. Yeah, I’ve never done something like this before, but games are pretty fun aren’t they!

Let’s keep on advancing forward with this tempo and share these emotions with Shizuku soon! Do your best, me!!

Pon. When I was thinking that, the familiar sound from the tutorial some time ago was abruptly heard inside my head.

Wondering what it was, I shifted my gaze towards the message that was delivered……

“Let’s see, what’s this what’s this. I learned a new skill?”

Ooh, this is nice. Sailor-san said that skills were important for combat and exploration so I’ll gladly welcome anything I can acquire.

Skill : Magic Strike

Category : Enhancement Skill

Prerequisite : As a【Magician 】, defeat a certain amount of monsters solo with physical attacks from your staff.

Effect : For a fixed duration, INT will be set to 0 and the amount that is decreased will be proportionately compensated towards the current equipped staff’s ATK, increasing it. (Up to the same value as your own ATK)

“Ho……”

A skill that added onto the ATK stat of the equipped staff in exchange for the INT stat becoming 0, huh. It seems somewhat strong.

Hmm? But, what was INT? Would it be a problem if it decreased?

Come of think of it, I have a feeling I didn’t properly read all of the explanatory notes for every status……

Until now, this was the first time that I’d realize that possibility and I belatedly opened the status display, scanning over each status explanation once again.

“Umm….. HP is hit points, if its all gone, then its game over. MP is mana points which magic skills used…… ATK is offensive ability, DEF is defensive power, AGI is speed, INT is intellectual power which raises the effects of magic…… Wait, eh?”

INT influenced the effectiveness of magic? By any chance, did that also include its power?

Wait no, but ATK was offensive ability…… Nn? MIND is mental strength and it says that it increased resistance towards magic. Resistance was basically defense right? Then, wouldn’t the evidently contrasting INT have something to do with magic power as well?

Could it be, the reason why my magic never did any damage no matter how many shots I fired off…… Was this why?

“……If I’m not mistaken, have I allocated my stats in the wrong place?”

Truly, I’ve only realized that possibility just now.

For a while, I stood still on the spot, dumbfounded.

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